Why not wait 12 years?On Fox News Sunday, Fred Thompson was bemoaning the fact that the AMT needs to be asjusted for inflation. Fine. But where was he when the Republican-controlled House and Senate
didn't adjust the minimum wage* or the food stamps program** for inflation?
* - until 12 years later when the Democrats took power
** - for a similarly long time
posted by Quiddity at 11/25/2007 05:33:00 PM
The market effectively adjusted the minimum wage and the cost of food.
Even McDonalds pays more than minimum wage. Minimum wage is pretty much restricted to teenagers sweeping the floors as their first job -- people with no job skills and who require constant supervision. If you can show up for work and follow directions for 8 hours then you are worth more than minimum wage. If you can't, you are probably a teenager or something is wrong with you that makes you borderline unemployable, which means you aren't worth minimum wage.
As far as food goes, food prices, adjusted for inflation, have fallen since the 1970s, from 19% of family income to 15%. Food stamps are important in a high-unemployment situation like the 1930s. But in a virtual full-employment economy, they just aren't that important.
Minimum wage and food stamps are Left Wing / Liberal / Democratic hobby horses. Most conservatives are opposed to them and many want to eliminate them entirely.
Fred Thompson probably wasn't arguing in favor of expanding these liberal programs because he is a conservative. I don't know what is so hard about this to understand.
